{"id":25700,"date":"2023-11-02T11:31:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T15:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=25700"},"modified":"2023-11-02T11:40:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T15:40:09","slug":"episode-900-thousands-of-black-walnuts-are-they-poisonous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=25700","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 900 THOUSANDS OF BLACK WALNUTS \u2014 ARE THEY POISONOUS?"},"content":{"rendered":"
       EPISODE 900  THOUSANDS OF BLACK WALNUTS \u2014 ARE THEY POISONOUS?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Nov 1, 2023<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Our original Black Walnut tree which was planted by me (as the legend goes) around 1944 or 1946.<\/div>\n
The tree is now, like me, in its 80\u2019s.  Perhaps 80 to 100 feet high.  Dominating all living things<\/div>\n
nearby with a poison  chemiical called JUGLONE<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I must ask my chemist friend Rooter\u2026Robert Root\u2026about that poison.  SEEMS TO KILL<\/div>\n
LIVING THINGS<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
IS THIS CAUTION TRUE, ROOTER? (ASKING BOB ROOT)  ???<\/div>\n

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\n

The effects of juglone<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Close-up
The fruit husks contain the highest concentrations of juglone. (Photo by Franklin Bonner, USFS, ret., Bugwood.org<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some people and animals are susceptible to juglone damage. Consuming too many leaves or using walnut sawdust for bedding can cause a number of problems with animals.  Some people are especially sensitive to juglone, and even sawdust from cutting walnut lumber can coat skin and produce a red welt where it lands. Juglone is a strong respiratory toxin and small amounts will damage other living creatures.<\/p>\n

In the soil, juglone will damage many living things, including plant roots. Once it’s released into the soil, small amounts can damage and kill the roots of neighboring plants. Beneath the tree, this walnut chemical severely damages annual plants, garden vegetables, fruit trees and some broadleaf perennials. Most grasses seem immune. If it leaks back onto a walnut root, however, it is quickly made nontoxic again and stored. Wherever walnut roots travel, they change the soil they move through by adding juglone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

GRANDMA LOUISIA FREEMAN SAID I PLANTED THE WALMUT TREE<\/div>\n
(She may have told cousin Ted Freeman the same thing we were about the same age)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 \u201cAlan, you planted the walnut tree beside the back house.\u201d<\/div>\n
I do not remember doing so but I was just a little boy at the time.   If I did then I<\/div>\n
sure knew the right spot.  The outhouse. Lots of fertilizer, the  real stuff must have seeped into the ground on<\/div>\n
that spot.  The Black walnut loves good land.<\/div>\n

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 And lots of walnuts began to drop each fall as the tree thrived and now<\/div>\n
towers over the farm house.  2023.. A bumper crop.  A thousand walnuts from one tree.  So many walnuts<\/div>\n
that we need a Bobcat to move them.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, do not go under the walnut tree\u2026you will get boinked.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA thousand hard balls falling.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cToo many.  I hate that tree.\u201d (Marjorie’s opinion)<\/div>\n

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\u201cGrandma loved it and so do I\u2026part of our heritage. When I was a teen ager<\/div>\n
I would gather a basket of walnuts and hurl the into roadside ditches from<\/div>\n
our old 1953 Meteor.  Some big trees on the fifth line were planted that way\u2026like<\/div>\n
Johnny Appleseed.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey are poison, Alan.  Their roots kill any other tree that thinks it can<\/div>\n
move into walnut territory.   That walnut tree killed the hickory tree.  Scares me.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cAre black walnuts edible?\u201d\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey are.   But they can also hurt people who are allergic to them.  I think Bill<\/div>\n
Doyle\u2019s brother was killed by a walnut allergy\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWow!  And you eat them?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNever knew better as a kid.. thankfully it was Difficult to get at the walnut core. \u201c (We are talking about Black Walnuts.  Not the<\/div>\n
domesticated English walnuts tucked in an ice cream cone or brownies.)<\/div>\n
\u201cBlack Walnuts?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey like good soil.   In distant times..pioneer days\u2026.settlers searched for<\/div>\n
walnut groves because they knew the land of the Black Walnut would be superb.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201c\u201dCan I taste a Black Walnut?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou can but it may nto be worth the effort.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou will need a sledge hammer to break the shell\u2026needs a good<\/div>\n
smash and all you will get are little bits of nut.  If ,by error, you<\/div>\n
bite on a piece of walnut shell you will need a dentist .  Black<\/div>\n
Walnuts break teeth.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, get serious, have you ever eaten a black walnut?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI have tasted the nut long ago.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd you are still alive\u2026or seem so.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThen Black Walnuts are edible.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSeems so.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThis year we have a bumper crop\u2026perhaps a thousand pounds of walnuts\u2026so<\/div>\n
many that we need a fork lift to move them.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cHold on.  Can I eat a Black Walnut\u2026just one?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou can but that is another story\u2026..another episode.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy make it so difficult?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause Black Walnut trees want to be sure to create more black walnut trees<\/div>\n
and to discourage enemies like you or, particularly, those red squirrels who just love<\/div>\n
the nuts and have teeth that can chew through the hard nut casing.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with my teeth?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYour teeth wold be shattered by the nut casing.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat about the poison?”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
HOW TO PREPARE BLACK WALNUTS FOR A GOURMET FEAST\u2026 NEXT EPISODE<\/div>\n

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       EPISODE 900  THOUSANDS OF BLACK WALNUTS \u2014 ARE THEY POISONOUS? alan skeoch Nov 1, 2023 Our original Black Walnut tree which was planted by me (as the legend goes) around 1944 or 1946. The tree is now, like me, in its 80\u2019s.  Perhaps 80 to 100 feet high.  Dominating all living things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}